Gaara Love Story
by lemonjunior
Summary: Myuuji is living the life of an average 13-year-old genin... Until she meets Gaara. Sorry can't do summaries. Just read. Please? Not too many grammar/spelling mistakes. Rated K-plus for cussing and other stuff. Please review, I need the feedback...
1. Chapter 1

I stood, leaning on a tree, panting. I had been trying to nail this kunai throwing training for all of yesterday and all of this morning. For some reason, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get the bullseye on the target in the blind spot behind the large rock in the middle of the clearing. I straightened, shook my head - long black ponytail whipping my sides - and readied eight kunai. Holding them between my fingers. I stepped further into the clearing, crouched low, then sprang up and threw four of the kunai, before twisting around, throwing another two and flipping over - releasing the last two into the air before landing in a half-kneeling position in the dirt. I looked around me and saw that I had hit the bullseye of every target within my sights. Tense, I walked slowly behind the rock to check the one in the blind spot. To hit this one; you had to throw one kunai at the target mounted at the tree behind it, then throw another straight after - harder and faster - to knock the first one out of the air and down towards to the one in the blind spot whilst the second had to continue on and hit the target on the tree. It was insanely difficult and I only knew it because I had specifically asked one of my friends - Tenten - to show me this while Kurenai-sensei was busy. Doing what, I don't know.

I hadn't hit the bullseye.

Frowning, I inspected the target. The kunai had landed a few centimetres above the bullseye, but it had landed straight. I smiled - this was a vast improvement from yesterday, when I couldn't hit the bullseye due to the second kunai not hitting the first at the proper angle and too slowly. Now at least I knew I was hitting it at the proper angle; I just needed to throw the second kunai faster or the first kunai slower. The next time I did it, I would get it.

I collected my kunai and walked back to my old position. Readying them between my fingers, I was just about to spring up into the air and try again when I heard a loud yell coming from somewhere nearby.

'YAHOO!' I knew exactly who it was; Kiba. Grinning, I put my eight kunai back into the light brown pouch I kept strapped at my hip and picked up my scythe. This scythe was my pride and joy; the handle was 3 metres long and the beautifully carved blade was 5 metres long and curved around. The blade was sharpened and polished to an impossible shine, and the handle was wrapped with bandages to give it extra grip and to make it easier to carry. I had also named my scythe: Shinu Made (shinoo mar-day). I rarely used my scythe in battle, but when I pulled it out the best thing you could do was run away. I strapped the huge, beautiful Shinu Made onto my back and hid - crouching - behind a bush. I wondered whether Kiba would know I was there, even though he couldn't see me. Kiba had an excellent sense of smell, and Kiba had Akamaru.

He appeared in the clearing barely a second later and stopped exactly in the middle, facing away from me. Akamaru yapped and Kiba looked behind him. I quickly ducked lower behind the bush and, forming a seal with my hands, used the replacement jutsu with Akamaru and thus appeared just behind Kiba with Akamaru behind the bush. Kiba sniffed, spun around and grabbed the blade of the kunai I had just pulled out.

'Dammit.' I said, smiling and he grinned back.

'Too slow.' He joked.

'One of these days...'

'Yeah, yeah, wanna come walk Akamaru with me?'

My smile grew, I knew exactly what Kiba meant by "walking Akamaru". He meant flying through the trees at insane speeds, jumping from one branch to the next and trying out a few new jutsus along the way. It was the most fun one could ever have, but I needed to get this kunai thing down.

'Sorry,' I told him. 'but I _need _to get this down.'

'What are you doing anyway?'

'Move.' He stepped aside.

I pulled off Shinu Made and handed it to him, then I crouched, sprung, and began the necessary throws it took to hit all eight targets. When I had finished and was kneeling in the dirt, I looked up and saw Kiba staring at me with an impressed expression. I smiled, straightened and collected my scythe from him, then I walked behind the rock and let out a shout of joy; I had hit the blind spot in the bullseye.

'Nice shot.' said Kiba. 'Who taught you this?'

'Tenten.' I replied. 'Of course, she could do it already.'

'Of course, well, if you're not gonna "walk Akamaru" with me then do you want to get some Ramen?'

'I guess.' I said and, gathering up my kunai, we jumped into the trees and walked Akamaru back into the village.


	2. Chapter 2

When we arrived at the Ramen stall, Akamaru jumped up onto Kiba's head, we ordered our noodles (me salmon and him chicken) and settled back on our seats, looking out at the passing villagers. Then I spied one of my close friends and nearly blew up Kiba's eardrum when I yelled his name.

'SHIKA-CHAN!' He turned quickly, looking a bit freaked out. But when he saw me and Kiba, he smiled and walked towards us.

'Hey Kiba, Myuuji. What're you doing?'

'Having lunch, of course. Do you want to join us?'

'Sure,' Shikamaru replied, sliding up in a seat next to me. 'Uhh... I'll have pork ramen, thank you.' he told the chef, then addressed me and Kiba. 'Hey, did you guys hear about the three sand shinobi that are coming to Konoha?'

'What's so special about that?' I asked, we had had foreign ninja visit our village before, for missions usually.

'Well, from what I hear, they're all siblings. And they are the sons and daughter of the Fourth Kazekage.'

'Hell...' I breathed. 'Why are they coming here?'

He shrugged. 'A mission, I guess.'

'Here you go!' said the chef, laying down three big bowls of delicious ramen and we all twisted in our seats.

'Itadakimasu.' we said in unison, in varying degrees of enthusiasm, then we separated our chopsticks and began to eat.

When we had finished we all reached into our pockets for our wallets to pay him. My fingers only wrapped around cloth.

'Uh... Sorry,' I said, smiling awkwardly up at the old man. 'I don't have my wallet on me... Is it alright if I just walk home to grab it? I promise I'll come back. I'm a loyal customer, right?'

He chuckled and agreed.

I thanked him, bade goodbye to two of my closest friends and walked home. On my way, I saw Sasuke walking alone.

'Hey,' I said, sidling up beside him. He smiled.

'Hey Myuuji, what do you want?' Asked Sasuke.

'Just wondering if you wanted to come to mine, I just need to grab my wallet and we can go train together.'

'I should probably just meet you at the dock.'

'I have cookies.'

He shook his head. 'You and your cookies.'

'Is that a yes or a no?' I asked.

He sighed. 'I suppose it's a yes.'

'Great.' I put my arm around his shoulders (a difficult feat, he was quite a bit taller than me) and he did the same to me and we began walking back to my house.

Halfway back we were interrupted by a pink-haired kunoichi who we both knew by the name of Sakura.

'... And we had this one mission, where we had to walk dogs and Kiba got _totally _over-enthusiastic and he let them all off the leash and tried to get them to jump into the trees. Of course, they couldn't do it and Kiba got super angry at a bunch of dogs.' I joked and Sasuke laughed so hard he grabbed his side, but stopped abruptly when he saw Sakura glaring at the two of us.

'What?' he asked, still smiling from the memory of the anecdot.

'Oh, nothing.' she said, sounding very angry. I knew exactly why; she and that stupid girl Ino were besotted with Sasuke and seeing him laughing with another girl must have really pissed her off. Then she gave me a big fake smile.

'Myuuji, can I talk to you for a minute?'

'Uh, I guess.' I said, walking towards her. 'What do you want?'

She grabbed my arm. 'Why are you with Sasuke?!' growled Sakura.

'He was coming to my house.'

'Why?' she snapped.

'Geez, I was just grabbing my wallet then maybe go train.'

'With him?'

'I guess...'

She smiled that wide, fake smile at me. 'Myuuji, we're friends right?'

'No, you hate me. I don't know why though.'

'What's going on over there?' Sasuke shouted. I turned to look at him and shrugged.

'Look, I gotta go, okay?' I said and, pulling my arm free from her grip, Sasuke and I began walking back to my house.

'Hey, I know what would be funner than walking.' I told Sasuke, smiling.

'What?'

'RACE YOU!' I yelled and, springing up onto the roof of a nearby shop, ran across the rooftops at an incredible speed, Sasuke following closely behind, both of us laughing.

With both of us going close to our top speed, we arrived at my house in under two minutes. Sasuke had caught up and the last half a kilometre was intense. In the end, Sasuke beat me by about a centimetre.

'YES!' he yelled, throwing his arms into the air, then put his hands on his knees, panting.

'Oh shut up,' I told him, unlocking the door and sliding it open. 'I have Shinu Made.'

'What does that scythe actually do anyway?'

'Heaps of stuff.' I said to Sasuke as we stepped out of our shoes and walked inside (me sideways, I had to walk through narrow doors sideways because of Shinu Made's long blade).

'Like what?' he asked, trailing after me to my room.

I shook my head. 'If you ever have to find out, you'll die. Damn... Where did I put this thing?'

We walked back into the kitchen and Sasuke went straight to a tall glass jar that I always kept filled with chocolate chip cookies, fished one out and bit into it. I picked up my small white wallet and check to see how much money I had left in it. I only had 2, 082 yen (20 US dollars).

Walking back to the ramen stall with Sasuke, I paid the chef a little extra as an apology for being late.

'It's perfectly alright. Maybe you and your boyfriend would want to come here for lunch tomorrow?' asked the chef.

I actually burst out laughing. 'Sasuke is _not _my boyfriend. That would just be stupid.'

As we walked towards the dock, I saw Sasuke looked slightly hurt.

'What's up?' I asked.

'It wouldn't be _that _stupid... You know, if I _was _your boyfriend.'

I laughed again. 'Sasuke, come on. We don't even like each other in that way.'

He looked away and I heard him mumble; 'Speak for yourself...'

I stopped walking. 'Wait, Sasuke, do you _like _me?'

He stopped and turned to look at me. 'Maybe I should go home.'

I was lost for words. Konoha's Heartthrob liked _me_. Unfortunately, Sasuke took my silence as an affirmative and began walking home. I wanted to stop him, but I didn't know what to say so I just let him walk on.

When he was gone, I headed into the forest and climbed up a tree. Pulling off Shinu Made, I spun it around and buried the blade into the trunk. Then I climbed onto my scythe and settled back (a perk of lugging around an enormous, heavy scythe - I could rest on it wherever there was a solid structure).

I sat there for quite a long time, staring up into the trees. I knew I should train, but I had been up all night last night waiting for my dad to come home. Eventually, I had to grab a coat and head out into the streets in the early hours of the morning to look for him. I found him in an inn with his arms around two scantily dressed girls only a few years older than me and a bottle of sake in hand. I eventually had to drag him home. I was stronger than my dad, even though he used to be a highly respected shinobi he never wore his Jounin vest any more and he seemed utterly uninterested in my training and social life. As a result, I was very tired and this morning I had been practicing the kunai throwing Tenten showed me.

I heard someone walking beneath. I started and stood, looking down into the clearing. I could see the messy, dark red top of someone's head and the top of what appeared to be a gourd with a cork stuck in it. I couldn't see the persons face, but judging from the lack of movement from the head, they seemed to be waiting for something, arms crossed.

Eventually, the cork on the top of gourd began to unscrew. When it popped off, sand gushed out of the gourd, circling and moving around the clearing.

Sand was not supposed to move like that.

I stepped off Shinu Made and pulled it from the trunk. Then strapping my giant scythe onto my back, I ran down the side of the tree facing away from the clearing, so that whoever was down there didn't see me. When I got to the bottom, I stood calmly at the edge of the clearing, behind whoever it was that was apparently making the sand move like that, but I couldn't be sure because the person was barely moving.

They finally turned around, and I was lost for words.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a boy, very pale. With short, red hair the colour of blood and pupiless, sea-foam green eyes framed with thick, angular black outlines. He also had the kanji for love tattooed above his left eye, the same colour as his hair. He was wearing a black shirt and pants, a very long white scarf that fell down between his legs and a wide brown leather strap that I assumed was for holding his gourd on his back. His forehead protector that told other shinobi what village he came from was tied around the wide

We stared at each other for quite some time, I was so completely lost in his beautiful, unconquered eyes so that when he spoke I jumped a bit.

'Can I help you?' he asked, he spoke slowly, like he was very tired.

'Uh... I was just wondering how you controlled that sand.'

His nose twitched. 'You smell nice. Like sugar, and butter, and chocolate.' he said, not answering my question.

'Umm... Thank you, I guess. I'm Myuuji.'

'Gaara. Isn't Myuuji a boy's name?'

I shrugged. 'Maybe.'

We stood, staring at each other for a while longer. Eventually, I spoke again.

'What are you doing in Konoha? You're a sand shinobi right?'

'I'm on a mission. We needed to escort someone to Konoha from Suna.'

'Where is your team?'

'In the hospital. It was an A-class mission.'

I looked him over - he didn't have a scratch or a bruise anywhere on him. How could he have gone on an A-class mission and come away with no visible injuries?

'You must be a pretty good ninja. What's your secret?'

He shrugged. The sand began moving around again behind him, then it came forward and circled behind me, forming a wall. He stepped a little closer to me and by this time the sand and had us both in an open box.

'This is better.' he said, smiling.

'Better for what?' I asked, very, very scared of this amazing-looking guy.

'I can smell you better.'

'What?'

'You smell like chocolate chip cookies.'

'Well my house is full of them.' I said and the sand fell away.

'Where do you live?' he asked, grabbing my arm and I felt excited at his touch.

'Uh... just in the village.'

Gaara let go of my arm, stepped back and sand began to swirl around him. When the sand cleared, he was gone.

I waited for a few stunned minutes until a blonde kunoichi stepped into the clearing. I sighed and hung my head; this was the _last _ person I wanted to talk to right now.

'Hey Ino.' I said.

'I heard you and Sasuke went for ramen together.'

'Look, Ino, I don't want to deal with this right now. If you want Sasuke, go get him. Okay? Stop talking to me about him because,' I grabbed her shoulders and made her look directly into my eyes. 'I _really don't care_.' Turning on my heel, I ran back to the village.

Not looking where I was going, I crashed into someone.

'Oh, sorry.' I said, looking up and I saw Hinata standing right there, smiling shyly.

'Hello, Myuu-chan.' she said.

'Hey, Hina-chan.'

'Why are you running?'

'I don't know. I needed to get away from Ino.'

'Ino?'

'Yeah, she thought she saw me and Sasuke getting ramen together.'

She smiled. 'So what? Your friends.'

'Yeah...' For some reason, I didn't tell her that Sasuke said he liked me. But now it seemed somewhat insignificant. Before I met Gaara, it seemed like the most important thing in the world.

Over the next few days, I saw Gaara walking around the village. Too nervous to talk to him, I kept my distance and admired him from afar. Sometimes we made eye contact, he would half-smile, I would smile back and we were both involuntarily entered into a staring contest with each other. Then laugh and turn away. He was usually alone.

We eventually talked again. I was visiting the hospital because I was bringing Kiba a jar of cookies after he had broken his leg jumping from the top of a tree, just because his sister had bet him he wouldn't, when I saw Gaara sitting in the waiting room, looking bored. We made eye contact and smiled.

'Yes?' Asked the receptionist.

'Uh...' I looked away from the sand shinobi's beautiful eyes and at the receptionist. 'I'm here to visit Inuzuka Kiba?'

'He has a visitor at the moment and has asked not to be disturbed.'

'What? But I'm like his best friend.'

'Regardless, I can't let you see him at the moment. Please take a seat.'

I sighed and turned around. Seeing the only free spot was next to Gaara, I pulled off Shinu Made and sat. Feeling I had a perfect excuse if I was accused of anything.

'The Cookie Kuniochi returns.' He said after I had sat.

'Hey Gaara. And these are for my friend, not you.'

'Sorry. What happened?'

'The idiot jumped off a tree just because his sister bet him he wouldn't.'

Gaara chuckled. 'I'm here because my siblings can barely hold their own against three Jounin.'

'Each?' I asked, raising one eyebrow.

'They had three between the two of them, I had three alone. Can I please just have one?'

I rolled my eyes, but unscrewed the top of the jar and held it out for him. He took two.

'Hey! I said one!' I yelled and tried punching him on the shoulder. Too my surprise, my fist only collided with soft sand.

'What the...?' I asked, astounded and Gaara smiled.

'Sorry, but it does that whether I want it to or not.'

'Aww man that is _so_ cool.' I said and tried punching him again. He laughed. 'So _that's_ how you took down three Jounin. Does this mean you've like... Never been touched?'

'No, it only does it if I'm about to be physically hurt. Or if I make it.'

'Kurmoichi Myuuji?' called out the receptionist.

'Yes?' I asked, standing up and walking over to her.

'Mr. Inuzuka can see you now. He is in room 217.'

I thanked her and made my way down the corridor, waving a small goodbye to Gaara who smiled back.

To my surprise, when I got near to room 217 I saw Hinata exiting, blushing so furiously it would put a beetroot to shame.

When she saw me, she lowered her eyes and said, 'Hello, Myuu-chan, he's awake.' With that, she almost ran down the corridor away from me.

I slid the door open and entered.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey... This is the chapter where Gaara becomes more prominent in the story, the first three chapters were pretty much just waffle to introduce my character. I hope you enjoy! Please review. By the way, quite a long chapter.

'Hey Kiba-chan.' I said, walking in, pulling Shinu Made off and leaning it against the wall. And I sat, cross-legged, at the foot of the bed. Kiba wasn't wearing his hoodie. Akamaru was lying on lap and Kiba was stroking him absentmindedly.

'Hey.' He said. He looked really bored.

I held out the jar. He grabbed it eagerly, unscrewed the lid and pulled one out.

'What the hell did you think was going to happen?' I asked.

He shrugged. 'I don't know, it wasn't a very tall tree. I just landed at the wrong angle.'

I scoffed and he smiled behind his half-eaten cookie. 'That must've been some angle.'

'Oi,' he said, fishing in the jar for another cookie. 'I'll do it again after this damn leg's healed and you will see.'

'How stupid are you? Breaking your leg doing something, then doing that same thing again is something Naruto would do, actually I don't think even _he's _that stupid. Especially if it's not for training.'

He rolled his eyes. 'Well I'm getting out tomorrow but I'll need to be on crutches for a few days, maybe a week. Two weeks, tops.'

'_What?!' _I yelled. 'Who am I going to do stamina training with?'

'Maybe Shino?'

'Shino doesn't give a cookie about stamina. And we can't do any missions until you're healed!'

Kiba chuckled and pulled another cookie from the jar. 'Sorry, I'll try and heal as quickly as possible, okay?'

'You had better.' I said, standing up and pulling the pillow quickly from behind his head.

'Ow!' he whined as his head hit the headrest.

I handed the pillow back to him and, smiling, asked him if he needed me to get him anything.

'Can you get me my kunai and shuriken? And maybe a book?'

'A book? Kiba, I've literally _never _seen you read.'

'Well I'm bored out of my brain here, there's _nothing _to do.'

'Fine, what kind of book?'

'I don't know, Hina-chan suggested something but I've forgotten the name. Can you ask her and get it for me?'

'You know I need to train, right? I can't just be running all over Konoha looking for Hina-chan just so you can be entertained.'

'Oh come on, if we ever get into a seriously sticky situation in a mission can't you just pull out Shinu Made and do... Whatever it is that scythe does?'

I leaned in close and he looked a bit wary. It did sort of look like I was about to kiss him, but really I just needed him to listen to me. 'Kiba, if I pull out Shinu Made and use it to it's full potential, it will _not _be on a mission. I will only use it as a last resort and only if I'm alone. Okay? It's not something I would stop training for, because the effects would be _unbelievably _awesome, but also destructive. Got it?'

'Sure...' he said, he obviously didn't believe me. I sighed and leaned back as he continued. 'So... about that book, yay or nay?'

'Fine,' I said, sliding off his bed and picking up Shinu Made. 'I'll see what I can do.'

Hoisting Shinu Made over my shoulder, I left room 217 and Konoha's hospital.

I walked through the village towards the Hyuuga mansion, Shinu Made's blade dragging in the dirt behind me, admiring the late afternoon sun.

When I finally knocked on the Hyuuga mansions door, Neji answered it.

'Hello Myuu-san.' he said upon seeing me.

'Hello Neji-chama. Can I come in?' I asked.

'Of course, my apologies.' he moved to the side. Neji was always very polite and I admired him for that, also his amazing Taijutsu skills. I pulled off my shoes and stepped inside. Resting Shinu Made just inside the door, I asked Neji where Hinata's room was.

'Hinata isn't here right now.' he replied.

'Shit, do you know where she might be? I need to ask her about a book.'

'Maybe I could help?'

'Actually, yeah, do you know any book that Hinata might have suggested for Kiba?'

He chuckled. 'Yes, she was talking about it earlier. It's called Insomnia, It's by an author called Hirota Taniko.'

'Wow, thank you _so _much Neji,' I felt insanely relieved. 'I probably would have been all over Konoha looking for Hina-chan.'

'Glad I could be of assistance. While you're here, do you want some tea or something?'

'Thank you,' I said, and followed him into the kitchen. It was very clean and empty. 'I'm surprised you're here, Hina-chan says you are usually training.'

He shrugged as he poured boiling water into a small, pretty, black teapot with a leaf pattern around it. 'I had a day off, Tenten said I should.'

'This is some house,' I said as he poured the tea into a glass mug and handed it to me.

'Thank you.' he replied and there was a stunt in the conversation.

Then Hanabi came in. 'Neji!' she exclaimed. 'This your girlfriend?'

Neji was way too composed to blush like his cousin, and he replied with a negative.

'Pity,' said Hanabi. 'She's cute.' she proceeded to pour out some tea and I frowned at her behind my mug. Thankfully, Neji had the sense to apologise, very graciously, I might add. Honestly, Neji was probably keeping the entire Hyuuga clan's reputation up.

'Well,' I said to them both. 'Maybe I should go now, it's getting pretty late.'

Neji led me to the door and as I pulled my shoes back on he apologised properly for Hanabi.

'I'm honestly sorry, Hanabi can be quite rude sometimes.'

'It's okay,' I smiled back at him as I stood and picked up Shinu Made. 'You obviously have a lot of practice in handling social situations.'

He smiled, and we bade each other goodbye as I walked out back into the Konoha streets. As I did I realised how little I had been paying attention to the time; the sun was hanging very low in the sky, making everything look a bit orange. How long was I in the Hyuuga mansion? Surely no more than twenty minutes.

What could I possibly have been doing all day?

I decided not to dwell on it and set off down the streets. When I arrived outside my house, I stopped with my hand on the door, sighed and decided to walk around for a little longer. I hadn't done much training today and I decided to do some now, so I ran off in the direction of the Konoha forest.

For some reason, when I run I don't look where I'm going and I promptly crashed into something. It felt like sand and indeed, when I looked up, I saw Gaara standing there with his arms crossed as sand poured into his gourd. He was half-smiling.

'Sorry,' I said as I regained my composure.

'No problem. Where are you going in such a rush?' he asked.

'I was thinking of training, but there's really nothing I can do without Kiba.'

'Is Kiba the one that was hospitalised from jumping out of a tree?'

I smiled. 'Yes. I need to do my stamina training with him.'

'Right, well do you want to do something? I'm bored, and it's almost night so I'm going to be even _more _bored in about half an hour, when everyone's at home.'

'You could help me train.'

'Fine, what do you want to do with this stamina training?'

I grabbed his hand and led him through the village into the forest.

When we reached a clearing, I dropped his hand, pulled off Shinu Made and - laying it to one side - addressed Gaara.

'How about I try and hit you, without my scythe.'

'You might want to use your scythe.'

I shook my head. 'No weapons, unless it does actually get too difficult. Also no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.'

He shrugged and spread his arms wide. 'Fine, hit me.'

I decided to try the head-on approach and went in for a punch. I only hit sand, however. Gaara yawned and crossed his arms. I tried kicking him, only hit sand. Punch - sand. Kick - sand. I frowned and jumped back into the trees. Gaara chuckled.

It was _on_.

I moved around behind him and crept forward. Then I ran forward and - positive he couldn't see or hear me - tried again to kick him.

My foot hit sand. I smiled, this was going to be good training.

An hour later, however, when darkness had fallen, I still hadn't hit him. I was kneeling in the grass with a kunai in my hand, panting. Gaara was sitting in the grass, messing around with some flowers with sand swirling around him.

'Had enough?' He asked, looking up at me.

I straightened, picked up Shinu Made and raised it. He didn't look the least bit fazed, which was understandable because I wasn't going to use this to it's full power, but he didn't know that. And "not it's full power" was still very powerful. I then held the scythe out in front of me and, focusing as hard as I could, receded my hands, leaving Shinu Made hanging about a metre and third off the ground. I then formed a seal, thought: Magen: Jabaku Satsu and Gaara thought he saw me disappear. In fact, I was still there, just invisible. I thanked Kurenai-sensei for trusting me enough to teach me this. Gaara looked around, confused, as I walked towards him and easily stepped through the swirling sand until I was right in front of him, even though he didn't see me, he could smell me and looked around. This would never work on Kiba, he could probably pinpoint the scent and smack me around. I took a deep breath as a tree grew around me, behind Gaara. When it was grown (which only took a few seconds), roots wrapped around Gaara and held him in place. I leaned out from the trunk and flipped down, landing just in front of a confused Gaara, smirking.

I then pulled out a kunai and twirled it around my fingers. He grinned and I felt the ground falling away beneath me, I tried running away but some sand held my feet and pulled them from beneath me. I scrabbled for something to hold on to but the dirt turned to sand under my fingers as a huge hole began forming and I was falling into it.

It only took a few seconds for me to be completely contained by a hole that was at least twenty metres deep and five wide.

I scowled up at Gaara, who was still pinned to the tree and laughing. I felt infinitely tired after an hour of running around then using a B-rank Genjutsu technique. I slumped against the wall of the hole and felt my eyes close - no matter how hard I tried to keep them open - face turned towards the starry sky.

Thank you for reading... will not post more unless asked. Sayonara! (for now) Damn that was a long chapter...


	5. Chapter 5

I know I said I wouldn't post unless asked but... Meh. Stuff all of you cos HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER! Very long, because I write long chapters and I'm quite excited about this. Starts off waffle-y but just wait and see, it gets pretty good. If I do say so myself, and I'm thinking of doing like a love triangle thing, or maybe a love square? Who knows? Anyway, here be the super long chapter;

Also, I was spurned on by being favourited... And screw all you people who are like: PFFFFTTT! EVERYONE GETS FAVOURITED! IT'S LIKE SO MAINSTREAM IT'S IN THE OCEAN! Well I'm new at this so I don't give a fig. Please enjoy;

'Hey, Myuuji!' someone shouted, shaking me awake. I blinked and saw Kiba, Tenten, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru and - to my surprise - Neji all standing around me. Kiba was the one who had shaken me awake, with Akamaru standing at the edge of the hole. 'Phew... Geez Myuu-chan you had us worried there for a second. We thought you were dead, or a missing-nin.'

I blinked a few more times and shook my head to clear my mind. 'Why... Why are we in a hole?' I asked groggily.

'We were hoping you could tell us.' replied Shikamaru.

I remembered, and I was pissed off at Gaara for just leaving me in a hole. 'ARGH!' I yelled, standing up quickly, almost overbalancing and brushing dirt off me. 'That asshole!'

They all looked at me weirdly, Hinata and Tenten exchanged looks.

'Sorry?' asked Kiba, looking as if he was ready to kill someone. 'Did someone _do _this to you?'

'Oh no, I just _put myself in a hole_.' I replied, angry and sarcastic. He looked taken aback so I apologised. 'Sorry Kiba, it's just... ARGH!' I shouted out again and kicked the side of the hole. 'He's such an _arse!_'

'Who is?' asked Neji. 'I could beat him up for you.'

Kiba and Sasuke both turned to frown at him.

'No, no... It's okay Neji. I just _cannot _believe Gaara left me in a hole.'

'Who's Gaara?' asked Sasuke.

'Uh... One of the sand nin.' I replied. 'The short redhead with the gourd.'

Everyone stared at me with blank looks, except for Shikamaru who frowned and said;

'_What _were you doing hanging out with him?'

'He was helping me train after Kiba...' I looked down and saw Kiba's leg was bound with thick bandages and there was a crutch on the floor beside him. He picked it up and struggled to stand up on it. 'Kiba!' I yelled. 'Why did you come into the forest to look for me with a broken leg?!'

He shrugged and replied. 'I was bored, you never came back with my stuff.'

'Hell! Kiba-chan I'm sorry but I needed to find the name of that book and I had to get Neji-chama to tell me and by the time I had gotten to the Hyuuga mansion it was late and I hadn't trained that day and... sorry.'

'It's alright, I'm out now.'

Shikamaru cleared his throat and we all turned to look at him. 'Uh... I don't _really _think Kiba's entertainment is the most important thing right now.'

'How so?' asked Kiba, looking mock-offended.

'Gaara has Shukaku in him.' Shikamaru elaborated.

Sasuke and Neji's eyes widened with horror but nobody else knew what the heck Shikamaru was talking about.

'What's Shukaku?' asked Tenten.

Shikamaru sighed and said; 'Do you want the long explanation or the short?'

'Short, I need to train with Neji.' Neji looked at Tenten, surprised, but did not correct her - he was too polite to embarrass her in front of her friends.

'Shukaku is one of the nine-tailed beasts and it relishes the opportunity to kill anyone in sight, especially during a full moon.'

Hinata let out a little gasp.

'Why didn't he kill Myuu-chan?' asked Kiba and Shikamaru shrugged. He seemed to be keeping his head through all of this and I wasn't sure whether I should be offended that he didn't seem to care enough about my wellbeing to be at least a _bit _worried about me hanging out with powerful beast-infected boy, or pleased to know I could count on him during any crisis.

'Shika-chan,' I started. 'Why aren't you worried?'

He shrugged. 'What's the point? It wasn't a full moon, he obviously has enough control over this thing to avoid killing everyone he meets and no one was hurt.'

'Speak for yourself, I spent the night in a hole.'

There was a small ripple of laughter and everyone jumped out of the ditch and went their separate ways. Except for Kiba, because of his leg and Shikamaru because he couldn't be stuffed to jump anywhere if it wasn't a crisis, or if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

'Kiba... How did you plan on getting out?' I asked, sighing. Shikamaru laughed.

'I don't know...' replied Kiba. 'I thought the solution would just come to me in the hour of need. Any suggestions Shikamaru?'

'Myuuji could carry you out.'

Kiba looked horror stricken at this suggestion and turned to scowl at me, doubled up laughing and clutching my side. 'Okay, okay...' I said, standing up and wiping my eyes. I scooped Kiba up and jumped from one side of the hole to the other and out with Shikamaru doing the same close behind. I lowered Kiba back onto the ground, he was red with embarrassment.

'Well... I guess I'll see you guys some time...' muttered Kiba, walking (as best he could with a crutch) into the forest and out of mine and Shikamaru's sights with Akamaru trotting along behind him.

'Poor Kiba.' I said after he had gone. 'A shame he broke his leg, I'll have to talk to his sister. She should know he _would _do something like.'

'Uh huh, sure.' Shikamaru agreed absent-mindedly. 'Do you want to do something? It is a new day.'

'What time is it?' I asked.

'About eight-thirty. Why?'

'Shit!' I yelled and punched the ground, then I gasped in pain as my knuckles bruised.

'What?'

'My dad, I never brought him home last night. He's probably passed out in a ditch somewhere... He's got all our money!' I simply hung limp like a doll from the waist, hair and hands resting on the dirt.

'Come one,' said Shikamaru, hoisting me up. 'Let's go find him.'

Honestly, I don't know what I would do without this lazy-ass genius.

As we wandered our way back into Konoha with Shinu Made strapped to my back, I made a point of looking into every inn and shady establishment we passed. I couldn't find a trace of him in the first nine (I didn't know there were so many "establishments" in Konoha until I started looking) but in the tenth one I asked a voluptuous girl in a tiny dress if she had serviced a man called Hakugi Kurmoichi and she giggled. I closed my eyes in shame and asked her if she knew where he would be now. I had left Shikamaru outside - thank the Gods - this was a low point for me.

'He told me that he was going... I think he said something about "servicing Lady Luck" on his way out.'

I thanked her and left, on the way down the wide street I told Shikamaru that I knew where he would be and we made our way there.

Somewhere furthest away from the Hokage faces there was a bar next to a gambling place next to a bar, next to a bar, next to a bar. Whoever came up with this idea was a genius in their own, messing-up-the-world way and this was where my dad would be.

As Shikamaru and I wandered down this promenade of all displays of the worst in mankind, I spied a pile of clothes and cardboard in the gutter outside a casino. I strolled over to it and gave it a good kick. The low-life rolled over and squinted at me with my dad's eyes. He mumbled something.

'I found him!' I yelled at Shikamaru and he made his way towards us. Then I turned back to my father. 'Dad... What the _fuck?_' I kicked him again and to my surprise I felt tears rolling down my face. 'Do you have _any _money left or am I going to have to _beg on the streets _to get food for tonight?!' I yelled with Shikamaru standing beside me.

'Myuuji?' My dad mumbled, holding his arm over his eyes to shelter them from the glare of the sun. 'What are you doing here?'

'I... I came to bring you home, you worthless piece of SHIT!' I gasped out and an enormous sob escaped my lips. This was not a good day for me, and it was only about 9:30 in the morning. My father sat up and I managed to look at him properly; his black hair was messy and spiky and a wispy beard had appeared on his chin.

'Sorry... I was planning on coming back soo-' he began, but I grabbed a rock from the ground and smacked him over the head with it and he fell to the ground, unmoving. At first I thought I had killed him but after I had checked his pulse I realised he must only be passed out. I picked him up and threw him across my shoulders Not an easy feat - he was a heavy man - and I walked back home with Shikamaru by my side as heavy grey clouds came rolling over Konoha. He offered to carry my dad a few times but I refused and he eventually gave up.

Shikamaru left me after I had reached my house, panting, after promising he would tell _no-one _about the hunting-for-my-dad episode.

I dropped my dad onto the couch and sank down onto the floor, leaning with my back against the table, completely drained. But now was not an acceptable time to rest - I needed to make my dad some tea and put him to bed properly, then I needed to find out if we had any money left after last night, then I needed a shower (I was all dirty from spending the night in a hole), then I needed to clean up the house and wash the dishes. Then maybe I could put on some music, make some cookies and relax.

I got to work.

I was kneeling on the floor on a cushion with my elbows leaning on the table - house cleaned, dad in bed and with my hair drying - holding my dad's wallet with both hands, scared to open it; it felt... empty.

It was raining outside and as I pulled the small cloth wallet open I could hear the drops pitter-pattering on the roof. I peered inside and saw that there was nothing. I turned it inside out and tipped it over the table but the only thing that fell out was a bit of fluff. That was all the money we had, and I had made it from my last mission. I either needed another mission or I would have to get a proper job. Maybe a waitress or something. Maybe I could throw away years and years of training so I could afford to humour my father's disgusting habits.

No way.

I threw down the wallet and ran out the door into the rain, pulling my jumper on over my shoulders and wrapping it around me. I ran for about five minutes until I stopped and began to walk. Water soaking through my jacket and running down my back.

I stepped on something, it was soft and I looked down quickly. I had stood on sand, underneath that sand was a gourd and under the gourd was a short redhead lying face-down on the concrete in the middle of a deserted Konoha street.

'Gaara?' I asked, disbelieving. He mumbled something I couldn't understand in reply. It sounded like a yes so I continued. 'Why... Why are you lying on the ground?'

No reply.

It seemed like a good idea to me so I lay down next to him, staring up at the cloudy sky. After a drop of water landed in my eye I turned to look at him. To my surprise - and pleasure - I saw he was looking at me, or at least in my direction, but his eyes seemed unfocused. I traced his perfect jawline, eyes, hair and the kanji on his forehead with my eyes. His eyes focused and I felt the hair on the back of my head stand on end.

'Are you crying?' he asked, very slowly, as if he didn't really care. I felt adrenaline flowing through my body from being this close to him, _talking _to him. The rain washed away the smell of blood and sand that usually floated around him. I sniffed in reply and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. He got up onto his hands and knees and crawled over to me, laying one hand on either side of my head - pressing down on my wrists - and leaning in close.

My hands started shaking and my heart was beating at about a hundred miles an hour from him just being so close. Drops of water fell down his beautiful, porcelain face and onto my nose. He smiled. His smile was very, very sexy. Also very, very evil.

_Why did he smile like he wanted to kill me?_

I frowned as the cork on his gourd fell to the ground and sand swirled around us, slower than it was yesterday but it still scared me. His smile was almost demonic; eyes wide and mouth stretching almost to his cheekbones. My own eyes grew as I saw a cloud drift away from the glow of the full moon. The. Full. Moon.

Crap.

I tried pushing Gaara off but he just slammed my wrist against the concrete and chuckled low in his throat. I tried bringing my knee up to hit him from behind but my knee only hit soft, wet sand. Then, too my surprise, he cringed and brought his hands off my wrists to grab the sides of his head. He fell off me and rolled away, moaning in pain. I stood up too quickly to be entirely steady and almost fell over again as I rushed towards Gaara and knelt beside him.

'Gaara!' I shouted, rolling him over so I could see his face. Looking around desperately for somewhere to take him. Everywhere was either closed or shady as hell so - wishing I had Shinu Made with me - I scooped him up and ran with him flung over my shoulder back to my house.

Thankfully it wasn't very far and I made it in only a few minutes, throwing a squirming Gaara onto the floor where he writhed and screamed in pain. I had no idea what was going on or what I should do but, on instinct, I ran forward and knelt beside him. Laying one hand on his forehead, I felt him burning up so I rushed into the kitchen, filled a jug with water and threw it over him. It didn't do anything immediately but after a few minutes he lay still, breathing heavily in a pool of water. I sighed with relief; it was going to be alright, or at least, I didn't have the love of my life screaming on the floor in front of me.

I tried picking him up again but he grabbed the bruise coiled around my left wrist and pulled me in close to his perfect, pale face.

'Don't move me.' Gaara said, very firmly and pulled me down on the floor beside him, arms wrapped around my sopping shoulders and long, wet hair. I felt like I was about to _die _from exhilaration. I kicked off my black sandals, closed my eyes and smiled; Gaara made me feel like everything was going to be just fine.

Yeah so... I really hoped you liked because I liked it _very _much. Also please review. Honestly, what's wrong with you people? I write long fanfics, the least you could do is review. Danke! Well... Bye from me I guess.


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